Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 101) of the banishment of the Chinese from Manila in 1767 (at which time he was residing there): "I did not know any Spaniard in Manila who did not sincerely regret the departure of the Chinese, and who did not frankly admit that the Philippines would suffer for it, because the Indians are not capable of replacing the Chinese.... The Parian was a sort of market, where could be found provision of everything necessary for living; and it is not without reason that the Spaniards regretted the loss of this laborious people."
[150] "This spirit of greed compelled the Chinese to abandon in their internal commerce the gold and silver coins which were in general use. The number of those who made counterfeit money, which was continually increasing, permitted no other line of conduct; and money was no longer coined save in copper. This metal, however, having become scarce, in consequence of events which history does not record, the shells so well known under the name of 'cauris' [English, 'cowries'] were mingled with the copper coins; but the government, having observed that the people were dissatisfied with so frail an article, ordered that the copper utensils throughout the entire empire should be given up to the mints. As this ill-judged expedient did not furnish resources adequate to the public needs, the government caused about four hundred temples of Foé to be demolished, the idols in which were melted down. Finally the court paid the magistrates and the army partly in copper and partly in paper; but the people rebelled against so dangerous innovation, and it became necessary to give it up. Since that time, which was three centuries ago, the coinage of copper is the only legal one." (Raynal, Établissemens et commerce des Européens, i, pp. 641, 642).
[151] Spanish, temporalidades: referring to the bureau in charge of the property formerly belonging to the Jesuits.
[152] Thus in text, but evidently a clerical error by Bernaldez's amanuensis. A similar discrepancy is seen in the estimate of the trader's profits, below.
[153] The Cortes, as first known by the Spaniards, contained three divisions, the three estates; the ones called in the three periods above-mentioned had but one chamber; the present Cortes contains two houses, the senate and the congress or house of deputies or representatives. The senate consists of three divisions: senators in their own right (the heir presumptive, the grandees, archbishops, etc.; life senators appointed by the crown; and those elected by the people, half of whom are removable every five years. Members to the lower house are elected for five years by electors chosen by the people. No Cortes was held from 1713-1789, and from the latter year until 1810.